One thousand faculty at New York University currently work full time without the protections of either tenure or a union contract; they’re trying to change that by unionizing. Jacobin talked to one of the faculty members about the union drive.
Contract faculty at New York University are demanding that the administration recognize their union, Contract Faculty United–UAW. (Camillo Miller / Flickr)
At New York University (NYU), half of full-time faculty are known as “contract faculty” — they are hired on contracts lasting for between one and eight years and are not eligible for tenure. Unlike adjunct faculty — who are hired on a per-course and per-semester basis — contract faculty at NYU are not yet unionized. They’re trying to change that: on February 22, contract faculty organizing under the banner of Contract Faculty United–UAW delivered a petition to NYU president Andrew Hamilton demanding that the university agree to a “fair and expeditious” process for recognizing the union. Jacobin’s Sara Wexler spoke to Contract Faculty United–UAW organizer Jacob Remes about the unionization effort.